Vehicle alarms are designed to detect either attempted unauthorized intrusion of the protected vehicle or vandalism to said vehicle, and sound a warning upon said detection. Most such alarms offer a number of common features such as active and/or passive arming, instant or delay trigger, input from a plurality of sensors connected to the automobile's doors, hood, trunk, or other areas, and output to a siren or lights.
Conventional vehicle alarms as described above suffer from a number of drawbacks:
1. The number of functions available usually do not satisfy the consumer's demands.
2. Complicated structure due to the large number of discrete components makes the alarm prone to errors.
3. Complicated structure due to the large number of discrete components makes mass production difficult.
The present invention provides an automobile alarm control system which offers a number of features to an automobile alarm:
1. Single IC--All of the circuits needed to control the alarm's functions are built-into a single integrated circuit (IC) for ease of manufacture and trouble-shooting.
2. Complete protection--Completely protects an automobile by monitoring said automobile's doors, hood, trunk, windows, and the rest of the body by means of a plurality of sensors strategically placed in said automobile.
3. Power door lock and power window control--Controls the locking and unlocking of said automobile's power door lock system and the closing of its power windows in conjunction with the arming and disarming of said automobile.
4. Electric fan control--Prevents said automobile alarm control system from triggering via a motion sensing or current sensing device when said automobile's electric fan turns on.
5. Fail-safe and override control--If any sensor is not operating properly, said automobile alarm control system will prevent said alarm from arming in order to alert the user of said alarm to the problem. However, should said user desire to bypass said fail-safe and override control so that said alarm can still be armed in the above-described situation, said fail-safe and override control allows for this possibility. Furthermore, should said user loose his or her normal means of disarming said alarm, said fail-safe and emergency disarm control provides an alternative method for said disarming.
6. Instant trigger override control--If the normal means for disarming said alarm were to malfunction or become lost, said user would have the means to cause those sensors which normally trigger said alarm instantly upon the opening of a door of said automobile while said alarm is armed to instead trigger said alarm after a delay upon said opening of said door.
7. Headlight on warning control--If the automobile's headlights are not turned off after said automobile's engine is turned off, the alarm will give an audible and visible warning to the owner.
8. Main power cut warning control--If power to the alarm's is ever removed, an audible warning signal will be given immediately.
9. Pre-entry alert control--If an automobile's door's handle is touched, an audible and visible warning will be given immediately. A microwave, shock, or other such sensor can also be connected to this control in order to detect a thief's presence before an actual break-in or vandalism.